The National Lottery Authority (NLA) on Thursday presented GH?10, 000 to the College of Health Sciences at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, to promote post-graduate studies and research.

The money is expected to go into the Graduate Education Endowment Fund for the College.

Mr George E. Gyamfi-Osew, Director of Special Projects, NLA, who presented the money in Accra, said the presentation formed part of the Authority’s Constitutionally-mandated responsibility to support communities, institutions and the underprivileged in the society.

He underscored the importance of corporate social responsibility, stressing that it is the collective responsibility of the citizenry to contribute towards poverty alleviation and socio-economic development.

Mr Gyamfi-Osew appealed to Ghanaians to be conscientious and thrifty in the way they use electricity, water and other natural resources to ensure sustainability.

Professor Darkwah Sefa, Provost of the College expressed gratitude to the NLA for the kind gesture.

The Authority also donated assorted items to the Pantang Psychiatric Hospital to augment efforts of the Ministry of Health to maintain the facility.

The items included 10 bags of 25-kilogramme weight of rice, 2,100 pieces of toilet rolls, six gallons of cooking oil, 24 tins of corned beef and three cartons of soft drinks.

Other items were five boxes of biscuits, one box of HIV Test Cards and Anti-TP test card.

Mr Alex Kusi, Deputy Administrator of the Hospital, expressed gratitude to the NLA and urged other institutions to imitate the kind gesture.

The NLA is a key government revenue generation entity established by an act of Parliament (Act 722) in 2006.

The lottery Amendment Act of 1989 (PNDC-Law233), which mandated private operation of lottery in Ghana, failed to achieve its set objectives of paying taxes to the government, and contributing a percentage of their profits to the district assemblies within which they were licenced to operate.

The situation resulted in a considerable amount of revenue loss to the State.

Consequently, NLA was created to operate Lottery in Ghana, thus promulgating Act 722, which has the power to regulate, supervise, conduct and manage National lotto and to provide for related matters in Ghana.